Best Temp in Chiswick
by Courage of Billy Batson
Summary: Drabble. After losing the one person who had known him since gaining his new body, Eleven visits an old mate.


Donna Noble was bored.

She sat at her computer, in her cubicle, typing a hundred words per minute. Her desk was relatively clean, not counting the various pencils scattered on it.

She was so tired of her dull, boring temp job. Why didn't she ever do anything with her life? Sometimes she just wanted to run away and travel the world. It was strange, her fascination with traveling. One day she had just woken up with a burning need to see everything. But it was probably just her somehow managing to miss planets appearing in the sky.

Sometimes, she had dreams about the planets, but she never remembered them. Well, that wasn't true; there was one thing that she remembered. There was always a man with a blue box.

Whenever she thought about him, though, she got a splitting headache, so she just tried to forget him.

Another strange thing that happened the day the planets appeared; she found she had developed a fondness for stutters.

"Why, hello there." a voice said from behind her.

Donna spun around in her chair to see… some man. He was wearing a white shirt with black suspenders. There was also… ugh. He was wearing a bow tie.

"I see you've noticed my bow tie." the man said proudly. "Don't you think bow ties are cool?"

"I think that you should tell me the reason you're here." Donna replied. "Because I have work to do."

"Well of course you do. You're the best temp in Chiswick." the man replied, smiling. He stuck out his hand. "John Smith."

"Well, that's a stupid name." Donna replied, turning back to her computer. However, she froze halfway through, as if she had just remembered a detail from a different life.

"Well… I did have a friend with that name. At least… I think I did…" She winced and raised a hand to her head, the headache returning once more.

"Well, let's not talk about that right now." John said. Something had set him off; he was tensed up.

"Yes, that's a good idea." Donna said, her headache suddenly disappearing as her thoughts turned to a different matter. "Let's talk about you. Here's a good thing to start with- why the hell are you here?"

John sighed. "Well, I… I wanted to see my best mate. I haven't talked to her in a while, and she doesn't remember me… But it was still nice to see her."

"Well, why are you talking to me?" Donna asked. "Just leave."

"I'm sorry." John said, turning to leave. "It's just that my friends are… well, they were taken by angels."

"Oh. Well, I'm sorry to hear that." Donna said, her anger fading. This man had obviously been through a lot, but she still had work to do. She went back to her computer, fingers flying over the keyboard.

"It's too bad." John said. "All I really wanted was a mate."

"Well, I'm not mating with you, buddy." she said.

John froze, then turned around. "What did you say?"

"I said that I'm not going to mate with you." Donna said, stills staring at her computer screen. "Also, why would you say mate? You sound like you're some evil spider alien."

"Well, that's a strange comparison." John said, his hand gripping the cubicle wall. "I should leave now."

"Are you a doctor?" Donna asked, her fingers suddenly freezing over the keyboard.

"I really have to go now. I shouldn't have come in the first place." John said, forcing himself to let go of the cubicle wall. It was obvious that he was scared, but Donna's headache was back, and worse than before.

"It's just… my friend. John Smith. He was a doctor… no. That's wrong…"

"Donna, you need to stop thinking about this." John said urgently, turning her around in her seat. "Listen to me!"

"He was from outer space." Donna said vacantly, no longer seeing John. "He took me in his little blue box that was bigger on the inside, and we flew around the universe." She smiled. "I was his best mate."

"Please, Donna! Stop!" John said desperately. He glanced up. "Look, do you want me to start helping people again! Because I will! If it means saving her, I'll do anything! Just don't take her away from me! Please, just make this one deal with me!"

"DOCTOR!" Donna screamed.

She collapsed into the Doctor's arms.


End file.
